false 32532 4 Picture the poor, young, serious-fiction writer. He toils alone at a pace not so different from that of Lincoln Tunnel traffic at rush hour in New York. His spouse has a "real" job, or perhaps he has a trust fund. His college friends are cashing in on their dot-coms and wondering if he's ever going to join the real world. He is not hell-bent on publication; he is trying to write "serious, honest fiction, the kind of novel that readers will find they enjoy reading more than once, the kind of fiction likely to survive." He's likely to have no idea whether he's succeeding. Nobody understands him.<p> Well, almost nobody. John Gardner understands him. Gardner's sympathetic <I>On Becoming a Novelist</I> is the novelist's ultimate comfort food--better than macaroni and cheese, better than chocolate. Gardner, a fiction writer himself (<I>Grendel</I>), knows in his bones the desperate questioning of a writer who's not sure he's up to the task. He recognizes the validation that comes with being published, just as he believes that "for a true novel there is generally no substitute for slow, slow baking." Gardner also has strong feelings about what kinds of workshops help (and whom they help), and what kinds hinder. But a full half of Gardner's book is devoted to an exploration of the writer's nature. The storyteller's intelligence, he says, "is composed of several qualities, most of which, in normal people, are signs of either immaturity or incivility." In addition, a writer needs "verbal sensitivity, accuracy of eye," and "an almost demonic compulsiveness." But wait--there's more. A writer needs to be driven, and to be driven, he says insightfully, "a psychological wound is helpful." <I>--Jane Steinberg</I> 3116893 17 10 1983 On Becoming a Novelist total:354|5:118|4:144|3:66|2:23|1:3| 354 1413 521 38 4 0 false false Thu Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 17 19:30:14 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 08:12:11 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Sep 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 13:00:47 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 16:48:13 -0700 2009 1 ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 26 05:08:13 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 12 19:27:00 -0700 2008
It's a short book (just over 140 pages) and reads elegantly throughout. The book doesn't provide practical advice on fiction writing. It's more a book about what it takes to be a novelist. Some issues he takes up are outdated (e.g. he considers a questio...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Apr 27 04:36:57 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 27 04:50:00 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 12:27:42 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 12:31:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 05 19:04:02 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 19:08:48 -0700 2009 I love his suggestion that the y...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 12:18:15 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 18 12:20:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 18:39:47 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 18:39:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1985 Mon Sep 14 10:39:24 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 10:42:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jun 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 16 09:35:10 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 23:17:26 -0700 2009 yoga, or "way," an alternative to ordinary life-in-the-world. Its benefits are quasi-religious--a changed quality of mind and heart, satisfactions no non-novelist can understand--an...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 20:07:18 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 20:08:45 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Feb 18 15:15:29 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 15:18:51 -0800 2009 2 0 false false Sat Nov 03 16:19:26 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 21 14:05:31 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 22 13:32:51 -0700 2007
Gardner has a wordy writing style. I spent much of the book with a red pen in my hand, crossing out the non-essential clauses just so the se...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 12:35:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 12 14:44:35 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Sun Nov 25 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Oct 18 12:08:30 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 30 11:04:37 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Jan 03 12:34:33 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 12:34:33 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Wed Jul 11 20:12:24 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 11 20:14:53 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 09 14:49:21 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 14:51:35 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Aug 04 22:22:11 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 08 14:10:41 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Jul 28 15:58:28 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 28 16:01:51 -0700 2007 more...]]>